---Logan's POV---

  I watched as ProGamer_Daddy wore a bitter expression. The wind rustled through the leaves above us.

  "Fet it. Let's stop dreaming about running back to show this off to Garble." His shoulders slumped slightly. "SAN value only e with instrus on how to decrease them, not how to recover them! We o serve what we've got!"

  I nodded in grief, uanding his frustration all too well. "True. This kind of ability should be reserved for practical purposes, not for hollow dispys of vanity."

  "Alright! In that case, let's focus on pleting our tasks first! Once we gain real power, we figure out a more practical way to use this ability!"

  "You're absolutely right!" I sighed, looking back at the chure st time. "We've been distracted by the empty sery outside the church."

  "We should've decisively chosen to head to the vilge entrano, the towrand chop trees! This is a plete failure on our part!"

  "Let's go!"

  ---Viktor's POV---

  I watched as the two finally disappeared from my sight.

  Tossing aside another piece of shattered wall brick with a satisfying crack, I scoffed, "Good thing they still remembered what they were supposed to do."

  "What exactly do they mean by SAN value?" Edgar asked.

  "The s that prevent the dragon syer from being the dragon," I replied, dusting off my bony hands. "When I returned, I thought about it and decided you were right."

  "Even though I trust my nerds, I would never uimate the church."

  "If it ever gets to the point where they're brainwashed by the churd beyond saving, I will send them away."

  This was my final safeguard for the pyers from Earth. From the beginning, I had never p the pyers pletely into the mire of Aeltia.

  There was no need for their SAN value to drop to zero.

  As long as their thoughts began showing signs of being influenced by Aeltia to the extent it could affect their real lives, I would forcibly drop their SAN value to zero ahem back to Earth.

  A proje of sciousness didn't mean they were immuo all harm; the prote of SAN value was also necessary.

  Of course, this was my initial idea.

  Now, I felt that occasionally using SAN value to restrict the pyers' behavior worked out pretty well.

  Edgar's expression softened in surprise. "You genuinely care about them. I've never seen you show such sideration for anyone else."

  I shrugged.

  "Maybe because I see a refle of my former self in them."

  When I first arrived iia, I was only slightly more cautious than these pyers. After all, I khis world wasn't a game and didn't have a resurreeism.

  But only slightly more cautious—I'd still stumbled into pitfalls that even six-year-old locals in this world wouldn't have fallen into.

  I had tripped and fallen for years. And I still had the metaphorical scars to prove it.

  Edgar raised an eyebrow. "A you have your 'former self' doing manual bor?"

  "Would you do it?" I shot back, gesturing at the piles of debris around us. "Or do you want me—a fragile skeleton who would fall apart after taking a few extra steps—to up this huge town?"

  Edgar fell silent, his armor creaking as he shifted his weight. As a dignified holy knight, he certainly wouldn't volunteer for manual bor.

  Besides, he was still rec from the injuries he sustained after his betrayal of the churd the loss of his peak power.

  My gaze swept over his face, the ghostly blue soul fme flickering in my eyes.

  Just as I thought.

  Anyone who didn't use free bor when they could was a fool.

  "Besides, guess what I'd used to make their bodies?"

  Edgar first pondered and then had a fsh of realization, his eyes widening.

  "A divine avatar?"

  As a fh-ranking member of the Radiant Church, he knew as much about divine characteristics as I did. One of them was the skill to create avatars of gods for divine inations to freely roam the nd of Aeltia.

  Divine avatars naturally possessed enviable talents and carried a hint of their god's essence.

  For ordinary people, it might seem like they were just doing manual bor—carrying crates or chopping wood.

  But for divine avatars, it was a way to deepen their uanding of the ws of the world.

  In other words, the more borious tasks the pyers did, the strohey would bee.

  However...

  This was the first time Edgar had ever seen a divine avatar being taken over and used by others.

  "How did you do it?" he was stunned, utterly incredulous. His jaw might have dropped if he wasn't trying so hard to maintain his dignity.

  I smiled smugly, enjoying his rea perhaps a bit too much.

  "I told you, my neantic revival magi't just some self-destruct spell. Believe me now?"

  A bit of side product from a forbidden magic circle.

  A divine essehat gained self-awareness.

  And a light orb ected to the Earth's work.

  This successfully led to the creation of the current perfected pyer summonihod and their extraordinary, magically gifted bodies.

  "Otherwise, how could I promise that upon reag Level 2, each of them would learn a magic spell?"

  Was it due to the pyers' ialents?

  No, it was the gift of divine essence!

  Divine power directly enhahe avatars' strength, which was far faster than improving ordinary humans.

  If I hadn't only had 89 points of divine power, just enough to provide each pyer with a single enha, I absolutely would have raised the Level 2 reward to include two spells.

  Creating the three pyers' bodies e 30 points of divine power, while crafting six game panels used 6 more points.

  To further enhahem with a Level 1 spell would require 10 divine power points.

  I barely had enough left.

  If I spent any more, Luminaris would likely revolt.

  In fact, the only reason he had obediently stayed at the church robably tied to my extravagant use of divine power.

  To survive, it had no choice but to work diligently to earn more divine power.

  I donned my cloak, shrouding myself in shadow.

  In an instant, my upright skeleton transformed into a gloomy, introverted mage.

  "Let's go. We haven't finished clearing all the monsters in Honeyvale Town. On the first day, we still o keep an eye on them."

  "I'll bet their current bat prowess 't even handle a single red-skinhworm."

  ---Logan's POV---

  Rip!

  Swoosh!

  I heard the sound of a saw grinding against wood echh the forest. The bde bit deep into the bark with each stroke, sending woodchips flying.

  A tall cypress tree creaked and then toppled with a loud crack.

  ProGamer_Daddy quickly jumped aside, whistling appreciatively.

  "Not bad, Garble! This is the eighth tree, right? You're already 40% doh leveling up!"

  "Did you used to work as a lumberjack or something?"

  We had ehe forest at the same time, and Garble had only gotten a slight head start in pig a tree to chop.

  Yet as time went on, ap in progress had widened dramatically.

  Garble wiped the sweat off his forehead.

  "Yeah, I used to help out at a logging camp when I was a kid. And by the way, the progress isn't 40%—it's 45%."

  "Forty-five?!" ProGamer_Daddy was stunned, nearly dropping his own saw.

  "That's impossible! I remember the experience points for the lumberjack quest are only 5 each! Is there a hidde?"

  I lowered my head in thought.

  We had thhly checked the task list earlier and found no quests more than 5 experience points.

  But after chopping trees for two hours and feeling increasingly energized, I had a bold theory.

  "Garble... could it be that...?"

  He nodded ahead of me, a knowing smile on his face. "Yeah, chopping trees grants experience."

  "What?!" ProGamer_Daddy excimed, his eyes wide with disbelief.

  He immediately opened his game panel and firmed his experience points. "I've got 3 experience points... but that's impossible! I chopped six trees and haven't even turned in the quest yet! Where did these points e from?!"

  I also showed my experience: 8/100.

  It seemed this was a hidden reward, beyond the final quest payout.

  I kept my expressioral despite my amazement.

  "No wonder we've been doing two hours of physical bor here and don't feel tired at all. I even feel like I'm breathing easier!"

  If this had been my usual otaku body in real life... Fet two hours. I probably wouldn't even mao chop dowree before colpsing on the ground like a dead dog.

  ProGamer_Daddy patted his body in amazement, flexing his arms experimentally. "You're right. I actually feel the muscles in my arms now!"

  "Who develops muscles after just two hours of work?" I couldn't help but crease my forehead in exasperation. This guy and his wild imagination...

  ProGamer_Daddy chuckled, swinging his leaf-bde. "Maybe not now, but chop a few more days and I'll have them!"

  "By the way, how e the hidden experience points we gain differ so much betweehree of us?" He poi the three piles of wood we had stacked on the ground.

  "Garble earwo more logs than us, fine. But we all chopped down six trees, yet somehow one person got 8 points of experience, another 3 points, and I'm stuck w if my chopping teique is off!"

  I watched as he swung the wide-edged leaf he'd been using as a tool for two hours, clearly uo figure out what was wrong. The leaf was incredibly durable. Even though his hands were red from chopping, the leaf remained perfectly intact, just like when he had received it from Edgar.

  He turo me with curiosity, wiping his reddened palms on his pants. "NeverShowOff, show us the ropes!"

  Even Garble turned his attention toward me, pausing his work. Among the three of us, I had somehow gaihe most bonus experience, even more than Garble who had chopped the most trees.

  I rubbed my thoughtfully, studying the bark patterns on the ree. "Hm... It might be because of how focused we are. You know I'm a gaming tent creator."

  "So while chopping, I've been deliberately the patterns oree bark, trying to deduce how the game's code simutes the process of chopping a tree.

  "How do they model the physics of a tree being felled? And how do they calcute the meics of its colpse? Stuff like that..."

  "Although this game is so well-made that I couldn't figure out much, my mind would occasionally feel a moment of crity. Thinking back, I'd say I had about eight of those moments."

  Garble nodded in agreement, his eyes sing the trees. "That's right. I've also been searg for exploits in the game. It's during those moments of crity that I noticed the unusual growth in experience points."

  ProGamer_Daddy looked dumbfounded, his leaf-bde drooping in his hands. "So I'm the only one just chopping trees without thinking?"

  I could tell that for him, chopping trees literally meant chopping trees. The tool was so sharp and satisfying to use that he felt a strong sense of aplishment as the tree stumps grew rger with each strike. The more he chopped, the more enjoyable it became, and he couldn't stop.

  "It's fine, now you know," I reassured him, patting his shoulder. "Let's get back to work and try to grind to Level 2 today!"

  "Got it!" His enthusiasm returned instantly, the leaf-bde already swinging through the air.

  We all enthusiastically returo work.

  An hour ter, the sun had risen directly overhead, as indicated on the game's interface. The experience points helped suppress our sense of exhaustion, and we worked with uraihusiasm.

  However, fatigue gradually set in, and we had to stop for a break, taking shelter from the scorg midday sun.

  Garble found a blue-purple vine in a nearby patch of grass, testing its strength with expert hands. Its incredible toughness made it perfect for transp logs.

  We spent another hour rolling and dragging the wood to the open spaext to the church.

  Edgar tallied up our results and, using his NPC privileges, distributed experience points to each of us in turn. Garble had chopped 12 trees, I managed 9, and ProGamer_Daddy 8.

  Ironically, ProGamer_Daddy had deliberately slowed his pace, hoping to gain more bonus experience from chopping, but it had only reduced his efficy.

  We received some wild fruits as a beginner's first-day reward from Edgar and headed to a massive tree with a 10-meter-wide trunk at the edge of town to rest.

  ch!

  I bit into a fruit, and the sweet and sour juice burst in my mouth. The taste was like a mix of cherries and pineapples—quite delicious. It was also surprisingly filling.

  Quickly finishing the fruit, I leaned back against the tree, hands behind my head, and closed my eyes with a tented sigh. "Ahhh—this feels amazing!"

  A cool breeze, filtered through yers of leaves, blew gently around us. The sensation of resting after hard work aing one's fill was incredibly satisfying.

  Even though I knew logging off for a few hours would erase my fatigue, I couldn't bring myself to leave.

  For some reason, icles of Aeltia seemed to have a strange allure. Even doing menial bor felt enjoyable.

  Maybe that was the charm of virtual reality games—it felt like a day trip to another world, and I didn't want to leave.

  I tilted my head slightly. "Guys, how are you feeling? Want to keep pying?"

  "Of course!" ProGamer_Daddy said excitedly, his legs crossed beh him as he leaned forward. "This game is so good, and it's still ia. We have to py until we're forced to log off!"

  "I'm pnning to stay oil my character o sleep," Garble agreed, arranging his tools beside him.

  "So we're all pying the whole day? What a ce, me too!" I said with surprise. That meant I wouldn't be alone in the evening.

  Birdsong echoed from the depths of the forest as ProGamer_Daddy scratched his ear, his expression thoughtful. "This game's fun and all, but it's g in magical elements."

  "Ever since we left the church, we haven't seen a single magical creature."

  "No running grass or talking animals?"

  I knew he was right—the only magical creatures we'd entered were our fa leader, Viktor, and the game mascot, Goddess Luminaris. The knight NPC probably knew magic too. But beyond that, nothing else.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. "What, do you want a tree that runs away so we all chase it down and chop it?"

  "Not really." ProGamer_Daddy gazed up at the opy. "It just feels like something's missing."

  "It's not bad," I replied, recalling my years of beta testing experiehe game pany probably hasn't developed the magical ecosystem yet. Give it a few more updates."

  I khese beta-test situations too well. Beta games were notoriously barebones. Even most NPCs didn't have voice ag yet.

  In icles of Aeltia, while the NPCs were few, every one of them felt alive and perfectly ihanks to stelr voice ag. This level of detail showed how much effort the developers had put in. Adding a few magical assets would be easy.

  "Besides, isn't the game's civilization aspect pretty underdeveloped too?"

  "If you ighe church, you could vince people this game is set in a primitive tribal era."

  The town had almost no traces of civilization—none of the usual medieval extravagance or ostentatious indulgenot that I'm pining. The simplicity art of its charm.

  "Yeah, that makes sense," ProGamer_Daddy seemed to sider this, absently trag patterns in the dirt.

  "Why are you suddenly thinking about game design?" Garble asked, looking a little surprised.

  ProGamer_Daddy sighed. "Well, I was w if there's a magical per suited for making axes than these wide-edged leaves." He held up the tool. "Something that could make the work easier, you know?"